1. Drafted in 2018
The 22-year-old Moscow native was drafted 38th overall in 2018 by the Canadiens. He spent 2018- 2020 in the KHL and the previous two seasons in the NHL.
2. Appeared in over 100 NHL games during his first two seasons
133 to be exact! The most of any player selected in the second round or later of the 2018 draft. Only 10 first-round picks, one of whom is Noah Dobson, have played more games.
3. Big Body Ability
The 6-foot-1, 209 lbs. defenseman led the Canadiens this past season with 225 hits, good for sixth among defensemen in the league, and 142 blocked shots. He also finished first on the team with 202:28 of shorthanded ice time.
4. Award Winner
In 2021-22, Romanov was awarded the Jacques Beauchamp-Molson Trophy in Montreal. The trophy is awarded to the player who played a dominant role during the regular season, without earning any honor. In 2019, Romanov was named the best defenseman of the IIHF World Junior Championship and was voted to the All-Star Team.
5. Made History in Montreal
Although he only appeared in four of the 22 games in the Canadien's playoff run during the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he made an immediate impact becoming the youngest defenseman in Canadiens' history to score a goal in the Stanley Cup Finals when he netted a goal to give the Habs a 2-1 lead in game 4.
6. Hockey is in his veins
Romanov's maternal grandfather, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, coached the Russian National team from 2011 to 2014 and won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics. His father, Stanislav Nikolaevich Romanov, is also a former KHL player.
7. Isles Connection
Before joining the Canadiens for the 20-21 season, Romanov played for CSKA in the KHL, where he was teammates with Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin. The two played three seasons together from 2017 until 2020.
